Starting this past May, inspired by Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow, I started tracking the clothing I wore each day. There were some days that I skipped (due to pajama days, or forgetting), and some days when I wore multiple outfits (like day time dress, and going out dress). If you’re into data and very light analysis, read on! No worries if you want to skip this post, though…
I collected this data using a Google Form, which I tailored directly to my wardrobe, so that most of my summer clothing was included in the form at the beginning… I’m on iteration 3 of this form, since I had to make major changes a few times, but the data in this analysis covers input from all three versions, verified for consistency.
Today I’m sharing the first six months of my tracking, from May to October, which covers summer and very early fall here in North Carolina. I recorded 182 outfits over the 184 days of this half of the year. Another note: I spent all but the first month of this challenge working in a shop environment (think woodshop), so even though it was super hot outside most of the time, I wore jeans most days, and wore sweaters and shawls because air conditioning is often waaaaaay too much for me.
So let’s start at the top. It’s no surprise to me that I wear more separates than I do dresses (84% to 16%). Let’s get dresses out of the way then!
I wear more woven dresses than I do knit, which does make sense based on the quantity of dresses I own in each category. In this period I wore three different knit dresses (Rust Nettie at 57.1%, Plum Nettie Hack at 14.3%, and my a red lace Dandelion at 28.6%).
For woven dresses, I’ve got dresses based on five patterns (as seen above), and what surprises me most is that the single dress I’ve made out of the Ogden cami got proportionally more wear than any other pattern.
And it follows that it was also the dress that got the most wear. What surprised me after that was that my 2018 Birthday dress got so much wear… Sometime in late July/early August I washed it with some freshly dyed fabric, and it was stained on the back, despite a couple of color catchers. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m thinking about dyeing it, but I’m not sure what color to try out. Now that I’m wearing sweaters consistently always, because of winter, maybe I can wear it again until I decide. These dresses are both super comfy, and I put pockets into both, which makes them so cool!
I do wear a fair amount of skirts, though. It looks like my top three skirts are from the three different types that I enjoy wearing. My two tone cotton Fumeterre skirt wins out. It’s a favorite on rainy days that need some brightening up. Then, my Uganda Belladone skirt and my grey Suiting Skirt are tied for second, both of which are comfy and have pockets. Actually all three fall into that category!
And now we’ve gotten to the trouser category… In this category is everything with two tubes of fabric and a waistband… So leggings, culottes, shorts, and proper trousers. I wear jeans a lot, so it’s not surprising that the two top options are the Ginger jeans I made a few years ago. My bootcut ones have been worn so much that I have a repair to make in the back thigh, and I’ve already repaired one pocket and the other needs it… The chambray Flints are shorts, which I wore when jeans just weren’t an option, so they pop up a lot. And then the charcoal Flints were around for less than half of this period, and they almost made it to the same amount as the shorts! Those pockets!
According to my tracking, I don’t wear knit tops as much as I wear wovens, but I still wear a good amount. My black Nettie tops hold out on top, and that’s because 76.5% of the time I wear knit tops, I wear Nettie tops. TnT forever!
My woven top selection is a bit more mixed, but the ones that get the most wear are black… In that regard I’m pretty consistent. I love all these tops, but it is easy to see what my top choices are…
For sweaters, my Julia sweaters get the most wear combined, though it doesn’t have pockets. So my Navy Susanne wins out when I don’t wear a dress with pockets, and Julias win out overall. So many Julia sweaters…
And finally, my shawls/scarfs. I have three, and it is incredibly clear which I prefer. My Austin shawl is wonderful, and I adore it!
I’m honestly not sure what to do with this data. I’m glad I have it, and it’s useful to review it, but it told me a lot of things I already knew. I like pockets, I like comfort, and my favorites are highly represented. If I’m going to move cross country, I know what to declutter?
Have you ever tracked your clothing use? What do you do with your data?